


estimated time of arrival

by TrasBen



Series: Gym Au [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dream & Nightmare (Undertale) - Freeform, Dream | Dreamtale Dream (Undertale), Fluff, Gym AU, Nightmare has TRAUMAAA, Nightmare | Dreamtale Nightmare (Undertale), Other, does not follow canon dreamtale, dream go :), hints of dreammare, it's there, nightmare has agoraphobia, they do be lovin each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:09:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29540772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrasBen/pseuds/TrasBen
Summary: Dream goes home... Nightmare is waiting for him.
Relationships: Sans & Sans (Undertale)
Series: Gym Au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2170323
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	estimated time of arrival

**Author's Note:**

> hmmmhmmmhmmm
> 
> my brain exploded w thoughts for nightmare this morning & widespread power outages mean i still do not have to work so...

It’s a lovely night. 

Clear skies, bright moon. The stars aren't very visible, but that’s a given for living in the city. Dream doesn’t really need the stars anyways. He’s got other things on his mind, like dinner, and calling back Ink, and….

Well.

Just… a lot of things.

It feels spoiled to be sitting all alone in the back of this shiny, expensive car, curled up against a window and sighing about trivial chores.

Not that anybody else could hear it - the soundproof barrier between him and the driver makes sure that he’s got total privacy. Dream isn’t even sure if he knows what the driver looks like, or their name, even. 

Who knows, at this point.

It had been Samantha last week, but Nightmare likes to rotate the staff whenever he feels like things are getting too comfortable. Dream does his best to adjust.

The drive to the house is no more than twenty minutes, less, probably, if the quietness of the streets is taken into consideration. 

Dream had picked that gym specifically for its proximity to his and Nightmare’s place. Originally, it had been to soothe his brother’s worries, but Dream finds the short commute refreshing on evenings like this. Being a yoga instructor certainly isn’t the most taxing job around, but it does work up quite the sweat when he’s got three back to back classes.

It’s probably the longest he’s been out in months; when he first took the job, Dream used to scatter classes throughout the day. One in the morning, two in the afternoon. Just enough time to stop by the house for a quick lunch.

Even then, he’d kept his phone on vibrate and slipped it into a side pocket throughout the day just to make sure he wouldn’t miss a text, or call, or alert…

Dream fishes the device out from his pocket now. He scrolls past some text notifications from people who could barely count as acquaintances, deletes one from an unknown number, and eventually finds the last text Nightmare had sent this afternoon.

It’s just an emoji of a thumbs up in response to Dream notifying him that he’d be turning his phone off for a few hours. A small smile tugs at his teeth.

Dream’s thumbs hover over the keypad for a second before he starts to type. 

**Dream**

_Omw home!!_ _🥰🥰_ _Class was really fun today!! ❤️😊❤️✨✨_

Almost instantly, the message is marked as read and a little bubble pops up on the screen to let Dream know that his brother is typing back.

**NightBear 🌚** **🖤✨**

_Glad to hear it._

Dream’s grin broadens a little at the familiar and concise message. Nightmare isn’t much one for texting, preferring to call over typing out his words on a small screen. The professional tone of his messages also carries over from the formatting of the business emails he’s always writing up.

Business Dream really hardly cares about, but it’s nice to see him get passionate over whatever deal he’s working out.

Another little bubble blips on Nightmare’s side of the screen, so Dream rests his skull on the window and waits patiently.

**NightBear 🌚** **🖤✨**

_Eta?_

Dream hums and checks outside. He recognizes the street immediately and gets to work crafting a response.

**Dream**

_🤔 10 mins???_

He’d taken longer than he originally thought just staring out at the night…

**NightBear 🌚** **🖤✨**

_Good. See you soon._ **_🐙_ **

Upon spotting the little octopus emoji, Dream can’t help giggling. He releases a flurry of emojis in response, mostly some form of hearts, and at the end, adds in an octopus emoji. It gets marked as read, but there’s no reply, so Dream tucks his phone back into his pocket and resumes staring out the car window.

The windows are slightly fogged from the cold night. Dream huffs out a small breath to add to the condensation, then draws a little heart with his pointer finger.

* * *

When the car approaches their house, it halts for a routine inspection by two guards standing right outside. Dream rolls down his window to confirm everything is alright, and they open the gates for him to come in.

The driveway spans for almost a full thirty second drive until it comes up to a circular loop up in front of the house. There’s a garage off to the side, but Dream just steps out when the car comes to a full stop in front of the walkway to the house.

It’s an old house, or, rather, it _had_ been an old house before Nightmare got his hands on it and got to work modernizing the thing. It’s built on a lot that’s of a fairly exceptional size for the business of the city it’s surrounded by. 

It’s their own little slice of private living. Dream doesn’t quite mind the busy city, but he knows Nightmare much prefers the solitude he’s set up for the both of them. And, well, it’s not as if Dream doesn’t enjoy the perks of having their own little estate.

Dream lugs his yoga mat carrier and bag up to their door, where he rings the specialized little doorbell and waves to the camera.

“Hello!” He greets, knowing that his brother is watching.

The door unlocks itself without a response. Not atypical, all things considered.

Dream makes sure to lock the door behind him as he enters and hangs his things on the hooks by the door. He also slips his shoes off so he’s left in his padded yoga socks. “I’m home!” He calls out. It echoes over the silent house, just a bit.

“There’s no need to yell.” Nightmare scoffs from somewhere beyond the entryway.

The minimalist manner in which he’d renovated the house makes for a lot of open space. The entryway, kitchen, and main den are all pretty much connected. There’s not a whole lot of hiding spaces on the bottom floor, basically.

The air smells like cider. Spiced apple. Dream wouldn’t be surprised if Nightmare made some earlier, seeing as the cold season is descending upon them and it’s always been a fan favorite for both the twins.

He spots Nightmare sitting at the kitchen counter, surrounded by envelopes. Some opened, some untouched. As expected, there’s a cup of something steaming off to his right.

Dream grins and strides over with open arms. “What? I can’t be excited to come home from a wonderful night, to _my_ wonderful Night?”

“Are you trying to butter me up?” Nightmare replies sardonically.

“Is it _that_ hard to believe I’m just happy to see you?” Dream faux-pouts as he nears. He’s still got his arms out and ready for a hug, which Nightmare eyes warily. He’s likely deciding whether or not he should dodge it.

“Hmm…”

Dream descends too swiftly for him to make a decision either way.

His brother sputters out another protesting noise as Dream wraps around him, careful of the tentacles protruding from his back. Dream holds him for a minute, squeezing his goopy brother until he relents.

Nightmare’s tentacles betray his underlying emotions. They squirm and wiggle happily, one even wrapping itself around Dream’s humerus a few times and gripping him lightly.

“Alright, alright. You love me, I get it. How was your day?” Nightmare grumbles, finally dislodging Dream. The tentacle reluctantly slides off of him as well. It leaves his arm feeling oddly… oily, but that's just about anything with Nightmare, now.

Dream spins around to sit on the stool next to Nightmare with a dreamy sigh. “Fantastic! I got a lot of compliments on my newest routine for the class, and during lunch, Ink mentioned that there’s going to be this soiree next Wednesday… I…” Dream sighs again. “It was really good. How was yours?”

He settles with his elbows on the counter, head held up by his hands, looking towards his brother. Getting Nightmare to open up is difficult, even to Dream, who’s been non-stop by his side for the past… forever ago, or so.

Nightmare only snorts and continues sorting through letters. “... The usual.” He eventually tells Dream. “Nothing exciting. I…” For a second, Nightmare pauses, as if debating whether or not he should say what he’s thinking. Dream hopes he does. “... I picked up the mail.”

Dream blinks for a second, taken off guard. “By yourself?” 

His brother seems to almost hunch inwards. Nightmare doesn’t even look up from the envelope in his hands, which are shaking just a little. “Yes… just as far as to the gate.” He confirms softly.

Hardly able to contain his excitement, Dream claps a few times. “Nighty!!!” He squeals. Dream can tell that the awkward way Nightmare holds himself means he’d rather not be touched, so he hugs his own arms instead whilst bouncing his legs. “You left the house!! I’m so proud!!”

“It’s not that big of a deal…” Nightmare mumbles, setting the envelope down in the spam pile. Despite his words, there’s a small grin and an even smaller flush over his cheekbones.

It’s hard to get Nightmare to leave the house for… _anything_ , really. The only thing more difficult is to get him to let others _into_ the house. For the longest time, this place has been Nightmare’s pinnacle of isolation. Outside of Dream. Naturally.

Dream shushes him, “It is to me! Oh, dear, I should make a cake, or something…” It’s then that he remembers it’s getting late and dinner hasn’t even been started. “And dinner!”

He pops out of his seat to slide into the kitchen. 

Just like the rest of the house, it’s got a modern take on a traditional model. There’s enough counter space to set a spread for at least a dozen guests, not to mention the four, yes, _four_ ovens off to the side. There’s two sinks and an electric stove top that spans at least five feet. 

The fridge is stainless steel, the counters a dark marble. And for all the cupboards it has, only about three actually hold utensils and plates. Packed away in the rest are appliances that Dream hadn’t even looked at the manual of.

It’s much too… _much_ , in his opinion. Just like almost everything else. But he’d never complain and seem ungrateful to Nightmare, who’s worked so hard to get them set up with all of this.

“Don’t worry about it, you just got back from work.” Nightmare chides, also standing up. The worry in his voice proves Dream’s earlier line of thinking perfectly. “I’ll do it.”

Dream is already nose-deep in the fridge. “You’ve been working all day!” He reminds his brother, “I just worked for the afternoon.”

Nightmare saddles up right behind Dream to place a hand on his back. “ _My_ job is to sit in front of a screen all day.” He tells Dream with a fond sort of exasperation.

The golden skeleton straightens and spins around. He presses the carton of eggs he’s just grabbed into Nightmare’s rib cage as he huffs out his own retort. “And _your_ posture while doing it is awful, so sit down and relax for a bit!”

Dream’s righteous little rant ends with him yellow-faced and pouting.

“Alright, then.” Nightmare seems to back off a bit, holding his hands up in a show of surrender. His tentacles wriggle around playfully behind him as he chuckles. “Try not to burn whatever it is you’re making.”

“I’ve not burned anything in _years_. And that last time was really just a fluke, anyways.” Dream says primly. 

It draws a laugh out of Nightmare, who, to his credit, does in fact sit back down at the counter to continue sorting mail. “How do you burn a grilled cheese sandwich...?” He snickers quietly.

Dream makes an incredulous noise from the kitchen where he’s setting out the ingredients for mushroom risotto. Fancy food for a special occasion! “The egg timer gets jammed while your brother keeps hiding things! That’s how!”

In hindsight, the whole thing _had_ been rather funny…

Dream hardly ever left the house for anything back then. Nightmare was often too sick to do much more than watch Dream potter around the house, but on that day….

That day, Nightmare had been feeling rather well. Well enough to sneak around the kitchen while Dream was trying to cook and use his tentacles to hide the ingredients he’d been using. It was a rare moment of playfulness from his usually serious brother.

Per usual, though, it’s all fun and games until the fire alarm starts blaring. Luckily Nightmare managed to disable it before the sprinklers turned on, which would have surely _dampened_ the mood.

Dream smiles as he starts to soak the arborio rice. The feeling of the room is calmer now, more relaxed. 

Nightmare merely offers a breathy huff as he opens a letter.

The light domesticity of it has Dream’s soul swelling in his rib cage. He can’t help himself when he tells Nightmare airily, “I love you.”

The words float in the air, bright and rosy in tone.

For a moment, there’s only the sound of Dream shifting ingredients around. Then, he hears Nightmare sigh heavily. “I love you too, brother.”

Dream’s grin nearly splits his skull. He’d go over and smooch the top of Nightmare’s skull until he was blue-faced, but he’s still busy with the cooking. He’ll be sure to shower him in plenty of affection after.

After all, he’s still _so proud_ of Nightmare.

He can almost feel it, the next step. The last years haven’t been easy for the twins, but Dream can see the line of the trees. They’re almost out of the woods.

… He’s definitely making a cake.

**Author's Note:**

> the entire time i was writing this i COULD NOT stop thinking about how much i love these 2 boys so
> 
> also??? anyone else??? agoraphobic nightmare???? perfection. look at him. barely leaving the house even for mail. you go king. pop off (quietly, inside the safety of your house).
> 
> (also also) dream is confirmed loaded and it does make me want to have cross and killer be his sugar babies. what else is he using that money for?? hmm???? thats what i thought
> 
> ____  
> (also also also) if/when i do post more of this au, it will probably in a proper longfic format. think of these first 2 works as...... context?? an introduction?? it probs wont be for awhile i have like (checks wips) 11 wips that i want to finish or at least add to before i start a new longfic FJKSLJFKD


End file.
